The HP Smart Array E500 is HP's external connect only, entry level PCI Express (PCIe) Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) RAID controller. The full size card has 8 ports (2 x4 mini SAS external connectors) and utilizes DDR2-533 memory. The SA-E500 offers RAID 0, 1 and 0+1 and can be upgraded with the battery-backed write cache (BBWC) module for RAID 5. This low-profile card is ideal for customers needing a low-cost external connect for HP ProLiant servers to tape, JBODs, and intelligent Modular Storage Arrays (MSA).

• Native Command Queuing (NCQ) support available
• 64 LUN support

Key Features

• The SA-E500 Controller supports up to 100 drives.
• The SA-E500 Controller supports the HP StorageWorks 50 Modular Smart Array, HP StorageWorks 60 Modular Smart Array and HP StorageWorks 70 Modular Smart Array.
• Seamless upgrades to current or next generation HP high performance and high capacity Serial Attached SCSI Smart Array controllers
• 3G SAS technology delivers high performance and data bandwidth up to 300 MB\s per physical link and contains full compatibility with 1.5G SATA technology.
• x8 2.5G PCI Express host interface technology delivers high performance and data bandwidth up to 2 GB/s maximum bandwidth.
• Addition of the battery upgrade enables battery backed write cache, RAID 5, array expansion, logical drive extension, RAID migration, and stripe size migration.
• Mix-and-match SAS and SATA hard drives, lets you deploy drive technology as needed to fit your computing environment.
• Support for SAS tape products.
• Software consistency among all Smart Array family products: Array Configuration Utility, Systems Insight Manager, Array Diagnostic Utility (ADU) and SmartStart.
• Support for greater than 2TB in a single logical drive
• 256 MB 40-bit wide DDR2-533 MHz cache module (with optional battery upgrade)
• Low-profile PCI Express form factor - ships with a full size bracket for deployment in either a low-profile or full sized slot

• Online array expansion (with battery upgrade)
• Online logical drive extension (with battery upgrade)
• Online RAID Level Migration (with battery upgrade)
• Online Stripe Size Migration (with battery upgrade)
• Offline Mirror splitting and recombining
• Unlimited global online spare assignment
• User selectable expand and rebuild priority
• User selectable RAID level and stripe size
• User selectable read and write cache size ratio

• Eight (8) SAS physical links distributed across 2 external x4 miniSAS connectors.

HP's High Performance Architecture sets new boundaries of industry performance expectations!

• 3G SAS (300MB/s bandwidth per physical link)
• 8x 3G SAS physical links (compatible with 1.5G SATA)
• 256 MB 40-bit wide DDR2-533 MHz (optional battery upgrade)
• x8 2.5G PCI Express host interface provides 2 GB/s maximum bandwidth during burst transfers
• 440 PowerPC Processor
  

Native Command Queuing (NCQ) is a technology designed to increase performance of SATA hard disk drives by allowing the individual hard disk to internally optimize the order in which received read and write commands are executed. This can reduce the amount of unnecessary going back-and-forth on the drive's heads, resulting in increased performance for workloads where multiple simultaneous read/write requests are outstanding, most often occurring in server or storage-type applications. Without NCQ the drive has to process and complete one command at a time. For NCQ to be enabled, it must be supported and turned on in the controller and in the hard drive itself.

NOTE: Please see the SATA Hard Drive QuickSpecs for specific SATA hard drive capacities that support NCQ: http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11940_div/11940_div.HTML

• Up to 5.84TB of external storage per PCI slot with 4x HP StorageWorks 50 Modular Smart Array enclosures and 40 x 146GB SFF SAS hard drives.
• Up to 28.8TB of external storage per PCI slot with 8x HP StorageWorks 60 Modular Smart Array enclosures and 96 x 300GB 3.5" SAS hard drives.
• Up to 96TB of external storage per PCI slot with 8x HP StorageWorks 60 Modular Smart Array enclosures and 96 x 1TB 3.5" SATA MDL hard drives.
• Up to 14.6TB of external storage per PCI slot with 8x HP StorageWorks 70 Modular Smart Array enclosures and 100 x 146GB SFF SAS hard drives.
• Up to 12 TB of external storage per PCI slot with 8x HP StorageWorks 70 Modular Smart Array enclosures and 100 x 120GB SFF SATA hard drives

NOTE: Support for greater than 2TB in a single logical drive.

Provides increased server uptime by providing advanced storage functionality:

• Online RAID Level Migration (between any RAID level)
• Online Capacity Expansion
• Logical Drive Capacity Extension
• Global Online Spare
• Pre-Failure Warranty

The following features offer detection of possible failures before they occur, allowing preventive action to be taken:

• S.M.A.R.T. (Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) was first developed by HP which detects possible hard disk failure before it occurs, allowing replacement of the component before failure occurs.
• Drive Parameter Tracking monitors drive operational parameters, predicting failure and notifying the administrator.
• Dynamic Sector Repairing continually performs background surface scans on the hard disk drives during inactive periods and automatically remaps bad sectors, ensuring data integrity.
• Smart Array Cache Tracking monitors integrity of controller cache, allowing pre-failure preventative maintenance.
• Environment Tracking for External Storage System: Monitors fan speed and cabinet temperature of StorageWorks Modular Smart Array Enclosures.

Keeps data available and server running while a failed drive is being replaced; several fault tolerance configurations are supported including:

• Distributed Data Guarding (RAID 5): This allocates parity data across multiple drives and allows simultaneous write operations. It is recommended for up to 14 hard drives.
  • RAID5 is available on the SA E500 only if the battery kit option is used
• Drive Mirroring (RAID 1, 1+0): This allocates half of the drive array to data and the other half to mirrored data, providing two copies of every file. It is a high-performance RAID.

Minimizes downtime, reconstructs data, and facilitates a quick recovery from drive failure

• Recovery ROM: This new feature provides a unique redundancy feature that protects from a ROM image corruption. A new version of firmware can be flashed to the ROM while the controller maintains the last known working version of firmware. If the firmware becomes corrupt, the controller will revert back to the previous version of firmware and continue operating. This reduces the risk of flashing firmware to the controller.
• On-Line Spares: There is no limit to the number of spare drives that can be installed prior to drive failure. If a failure occurs, recovery begins with an On-Line Spare and data is reconstructed automatically.
• DRAM ECC corrects against single bit data and address corruption.

• GUI based configuration, management and diagnostic software tools
• Common data format between generations of products
• Data migration between servers and external HP StorageWorks Modular Smart Array enclosures

Microsoft Windows 2003 / R2 Standard
Microsoft Windows 2003 / R2 Standard x64
Microsoft Windows 2003 / R2 Enterprise
Microsoft Windows 2003 / R2 Enterprise x64
Microsoft Windows 2003 / R2 Web
Microsoft Windows 2003 / R2 SBS
Microsoft Windows 2008 Server
Novell Open Enterprise Server, NetWare 6.5
SP5
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
SCO OpenServer 5.0.7, 6
SCO UnixWare 7.1.3, 7.1.4
Solaris 10
VMWare ESX 3.0

• Powerful server and server options/storage manager tool
• Monitors over 1200 system wide parameters
• Configuration/Diagnostic Utilities
  

• Powerful Web based configuration utility for all Smart Array controllers
• Provides a graphical view of HP drive array configurations
• Allows for management of multiple arrays over a secure internet connection from anywhere in the world
• Easy to use Wizards for configuration
• Runs online on Windows and NetWare (CPQONLIN)

• An alternative method for easily viewing, creating, and deleting multiple arrays and logical volumes during system power up.
• For advanced array configurations use ACU

NOTE: For advanced array configurations use ACU.

• In depth diagnostic and reporting utility for all Smart Array controllers

Warranty

Standalone telephone support

Hardware Product Services

Warranty Upgrade Options

HP Care Pack Information

SAS Connectors

Data Transfer Method

Memory Bus Speed

PCI

Simultaneous Drive Transfer Ports

SAS Port Link Rate

Software upgradeable Firmware

Cache Memory

Logical Drives Supported

The EU WEEE directive (2002/95/EC) requires manufacturers to provide treatment information for each product type for use by treatment facilities. This information (product disassembly instructions) is posted on the Hewlett Packard web site at: http://www.hp.com/go/green. These instructions may be used by recyclers and other WEEE treatment facilities as well as HP OEM customers who integrate and re-sell HP equipment.

The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

For hard drives, 1GB = 1 billion bytes. Actual formatted capacity is less.